The Hijlory ^/ANIMALS, 41^ 
The legs are fhort, but they are robufl; they are of a pale brown colour, and the 
hinder one is armed with a very long and fharp black claw; thofe of the three an¬ 
terior toes are alfo black and fharp, but they are much fliorter. 
This fingular little bird is a native of mod: parts of Europe; with us it is* very fre¬ 
quent. It runs up the trunks of trees, in the manner of the wood-pecker, and feeds 
on the infers that it finds on their bark. It builds in rotten wood, and the hollows 
of old trees, and lays a vafl number of very minute eggs. All the writers on birds 
have mentioned it, and almoft all under the name of Certhia. Beilonius calls it Cer- 
thia, Certhius, and Reptatrix. We, in England, the Creeper, and, in feme places, 
the ox-eye Creeper. 
BIRDS. 
v 
Clafs the Third. 
A N S E R E S. 
T H E beak or opening of the jaws in the Anferes is dentato-ferrated: the feet are 
formed for fwimming. 
• * 
The word Anfer has been ufed in general to fignify only the goofe-kind; but it is 
in this fenfe made to comprehend the fwan, duck, widgeon, pelican, and a number of 
others. 
PHOENICOPTERUS, 
T H E beak of the Phoenicopterus is of a ft range figure; it is bent iii fuch a man¬ 
ner as to appear as if broken, and is dentated at the edges; and the lower chap 
is broader than the upper : this fingular ftrudure of the beak excludes all other birds, 
from the genus of which there is therefore only the fingle fpecies, ufually known by 
the name. 
Phoenicopterus, JFl&tttfttSO* 
This is one of the moft fingular birds in the world ; it is very large, and moll re¬ 
markably tall: the body is but fmall, in proportion to the extream length of the neck 
and legs: the head is very large, and remarkably rounded or prominent, not flatted 
on the top : the eyes are large, and very bright and piercing in their afpedt: the beak 
is of a very fingular figure and ftrudture; it is long, and very broad; it feems as if 
broken tpward the top, and the upper chap is deprefled and dentated,\\and the under 
one very broad and thick : it is of a dufky blue throughout, except at the tip, where 
it is black. 
The head is white ; the neck alfo and the body are white ; the neck is of fo fur- 
prifing a length, that that of a fwan appears (hort to it. 
The wings are (hort but broad; the long feathers of them are black, but the co¬ 
vering ones are all of the higheft fcarlet, and make a moft glowing appearance : the 
tail is fhort and inconfiderable ; the legs are wonderfully long, they exceed even the 
neck in length, and are robuft, and of a high fcarlet colour: the toes are three be¬ 
fore, and one behind j the three anterior ones are connected by a membrane, and are 
very long ; the hinder toe is fhort and inconfiderable. 
It is a native of many parts of the Weft Indies and of Africa; we have it fome- 
times in Europe about the fea-coafts, but rarely. The Flamingo feeds on fifh, fhell- 
fifli, and a variety of animals that frequent the fides of waters, as well as thofe which 
5 O live 
